Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 1
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran will inaugurate a large gasoline production unit in Isfahan Refinery by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20).
Managing Director of Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, Abbas Kazemi, said the new unit will produce 3 million liters of gasoline, meeting euro-4 standards, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on Feb. 1.
"Due to the international sanctions, the refinery could not import a specific catalyst which was required for producing gasoline. However, the catalyst is being produced by domestic companies."
Shahrokh Khosravani, deputy director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) said on Jan. 16 that three gasoline production units will come on stream in Iran which will boost the country's euro-4 gasoline production by 10 billion liters.
Iran used to import 40 percent of its needed gasoline by 2009. But, the international sanctions forced it to produce gasoline domestically through adding lead or some poisonous chemical catalysts such as MTBE to the product. MTBE is a highly poisonous substance which causes cancer. It is banned worldwide to be used for gasoline production.
The administration of President Hassan Rouhani ordered to stop the distribution of substandard gasoline.